After a strike-interrupted, less-than-stellar sophomore session, NBC's Heroes returns on Monday, September 15th with a three-hour primetime extravaganza that includes a one-hour clip show (to bring viewers up to speed) followed by a two-hour season premiere.  A critical favorite and ratings winner during its rookie year, Heroes sputtered last season, and unlike many other primetime series, it did not receive a spring revival after the settlement of the writers' strike (see "It's Official").  However NBC remains committed to the series (at least as much as any network is "committed" to any show these days) and has Heroes slated for its normal Monday 9pm (ET, PT) slot on both its fall and winter schedules.

Wildstorm's 240-page Heroes hardcover was one of the best-selling superhero graphic novels in both the direct and bookstore markets last year, and although a spin-off Heroes TV series never made it, a tie-in novel, Heroes: Saving Charlie by Aury Wallington, has done quite well.

Other shows of interest on the NBC 2008-2009 schedule include Knight Rider (see "Val Kilmer to Voice KITT") at 8pm (ET, PT) on Wednesdays, and the new Arthurian fantasy series Merlin, which was produced for the BBC and which will air on Sunday nights at 8pm (ET, PT) after the NFL season.